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What I’ve learned from users

paulgraham.com

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Re: What I’ve learned from users

#51

Post by metadat »

yashap wrote: post #35

This was a surprisingly bad essay (and I generally enjoy PG’s essays). It claims to be about “what PG has learned from YC users (startup founders)”, but basically just says “founders are wrong, YC is amazing,” then descends into a YC elevator pitch. There’s really nothing concrete about what he’s learned from users, other than “they have similar problems” (with zero information about what those problems are) and “the…

Life is a journey. I remember when I first encountered and read one of Paul's essays circa 2012. They were like a breath of fresh air! The clever, apparently data-driven analysis and freely imparted wisdom, wow. His writing came across as so intelligent and I concluded he must be a nice and decent person - just like me, maybe even a better version. For a twenty-something who'd already worked at a slew of startups, the essays contained some useful advice for life. Then over the years, over time, something changed. What used to read and be interpreted in a way I deemed "correct" now comes across as arrogant, elitist, dismissive, and overly broad. I no longer find the essays informative. It's kind of like the Polar Express holiday story; the bell no longer rings for me.

https://polarexpress.fandom.com/wiki/Silver_bell

Paul, thank you for inspiring me, your writing helped me in my twenties. Sometimes things were right for a certain period of time and then inevitably become dated as new wisdom and revelations unfold and the landscape changes.

Re: What I’ve learned from users

#53

Post by fairity »

More of a meta discussion, but it's interesting that pretty much all HN threads on PG's recent essays have a strong, negative sentiment. My guess is that this is explained by 3 factors:

1) The quantity and quality of new ideas in PG's essays is declining.

2) Readers' expectations of quality in PG's essays is increasing.

3) The pool of disenfranchised readers is growing.

The quantity and quality of new ideas is decreasing because PG naturally wrote down his best ideas a long time ago.

Readers' expectations increases because YC's power and influence grows.

And, the pool of disenfranchised readers grows as more people try to join YC's ranks unsuccessfully.

I feel badly about this because anyone who has interacted with PG irl knows he's as kind-hearted as people come. But, then again, I get the sense this doesn't bother him too much .

Re: What I’ve learned from users

#54

Post by metacritic12 »

metadat wrote: post #51
yashap wrote: post #35

This was a surprisingly bad essay (and I generally enjoy PG’s essays). It claims to be about “what PG has learned from YC users (startup founders)”, but basically just says “founders are wrong, YC is amazing,” then descends into a YC elevator pitch. There’s really nothing concrete about what he’s learned from users, other than “they have similar problems” (with zero information about what those problems are) and “the…

Life is a journey. I remember when I first encountered and read one of Paul's essays circa 2012. They were like a breath of fresh air! The clever, apparently data-driven analysis and freely imparted wisdom, wow. His writing came across as so intelligent and I concluded he must be a nice and decent person - just like me, maybe even a better version. For a twenty-something who'd already worked at a slew of startups, th…

Interestingly, I found his essays in the early 2000s, and thought the same about it back then, when I was a teenager.

Part of it is that pg's essays are inspiration-porn adjacent, and I think teens and twenties have the highest affinity for such items.

Part of it is that pg used to be able to comment on anything he wanted to in society freely. His followers were all fans and bought into his style of thinking. There were no haters because pg wasn't sufficiently famous for them to score points by dunking on him.

It's a shame he's achieved such silencing status. I wish he could post his deeper thoughts and observations under one or more pen names.

Re: What I’ve learned from users

#55

Post by majani »

metadat wrote: post #51
yashap wrote: post #35

This was a surprisingly bad essay (and I generally enjoy PG’s essays). It claims to be about “what PG has learned from YC users (startup founders)”, but basically just says “founders are wrong, YC is amazing,” then descends into a YC elevator pitch. There’s really nothing concrete about what he’s learned from users, other than “they have similar problems” (with zero information about what those problems are) and “the…

Life is a journey. I remember when I first encountered and read one of Paul's essays circa 2012. They were like a breath of fresh air! The clever, apparently data-driven analysis and freely imparted wisdom, wow. His writing came across as so intelligent and I concluded he must be a nice and decent person - just like me, maybe even a better version. For a twenty-something who'd already worked at a slew of startups, th…

I've gone through the same process with pg's essays. Might be the fact that I've come to realize that the reality of the Silicon Valley VC scene is so far removed from the rest of the world that I need to take any advice coming from there with a pinch of salt. Also might just be me growing bored of someone ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Re: What I’ve learned from users

#56

Post by vecter »

> We learned that the hard way, in the notorious "batch that broke YC" in the summer of 2012. Up till that point we treated the partners as a pool. When a startup requested office hours, they got the next available slot posted by any partner. That meant every partner had to know every startup. This worked fine up to 60 startups, but when the batch grew to 80, everything broke. The founders probably didn't realize anything was wrong, but the partners were confused and unhappy because halfway through the batch they still didn't know all the companies yet.

I was part of the S12 batch. I certainly knew it was broken a few weeks in. Every week when we had office hours, it was always with a new partner and we spent the entire time getting them up-to-speed on just our background and context.

Still loved the experience and would do YC again.

Re: What I’ve learned from users

#57

Post by malodyets »

avg_dev wrote: post #21

I’ve read a few of pg’s articles over the years. I believe it was one about nerdy kids and their relationships and worldviews that first brought me to this site. At some point, I read the article “Hackers and Painters” and I felt like pg’s essays didn’t resonate with me anymore. I even read a response called “Dabblers and Blowhards” that I resonated strongly with. I thought to myself, pg is distanced from reality, an…

Really appreciate this thoughtful take. Thank you.

Re: What I’ve learned from users

#58

Post by sbdncuvh »

fairity wrote: post #53

More of a meta discussion, but it's interesting that pretty much all HN threads on PG's recent essays have a strong, negative sentiment. My guess is that this is explained by 3 factors: 1) The quantity and quality of new ideas in PG's essays is declining. 2) Readers' expectations of quality in PG's essays is increasing. 3) The pool of disenfranchised readers is growing. The quantity and quality of new ideas is decrea…

Or the IT industry is just full of participation trophies and the new grey beards just cbf participating in a toxic community that can't handle a single opinion outside their own narrative.

Re: What I’ve learned from users

#59

Post by contingencies »

YC founders aren't just inspired by one another. They also help one another. That's the happiest thing I've learned about startup founders: how generous they can be in helping one another.

This goes both ways. A few years ago a group reached out to me from HN who wanted to start up in the same sector we're working in. They were a small group of guys from a famous US university who arranged to call me and pick my brains, which I was happy to do for over an hour. I was all like "welcome to the space" and gave them some strategic pointers. I had done online YC and met some of the YC partners and felt these people being from a decent university and engaged with HN should have been, err, of reasonable ethical stature. Later on these people totally blanked me, are presenting my insights freely shared as their own, and have since secured YC funding. I am not worried in the slightest - in fact I can see them struggling and their mistakes are clear to me from afar, but I just wanted to note clearly that there is no code of honour that will not be broken, and this place is not immune.

Re: What I’ve learned from users

#60

Post by avgcorrection »

fairity wrote: post #53

More of a meta discussion, but it's interesting that pretty much all HN threads on PG's recent essays have a strong, negative sentiment. My guess is that this is explained by 3 factors: 1) The quantity and quality of new ideas in PG's essays is declining. 2) Readers' expectations of quality in PG's essays is increasing. 3) The pool of disenfranchised readers is growing. The quantity and quality of new ideas is decrea…

> I feel badly about this because anyone who has interacted with PG irl knows he's as kind-hearted as people come.

Irrelevant even if it is true.

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